Canadian literary great Margaret Atwood is writing a sequel to her internationally renowned dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale.
Publisher McClelland and Stewart says it will publish The Testaments on Sept. 10, 2019.
The Handmaid’s Tale was published in 1985 and won a Governor General’s Award.
The story, about a totalitarian society in which women are a property of the state, was adapted last year into an Emmy Award-winning series.
McClelland and Stewart says The Testaments is set 15 years after protagonist Offred’s final scene in The Handmaid’s Tale and is narrated by three female characters.
Offred, played by Elisabeth Moss in the television series, is a “handmaid” forced to bear children for infertile couples.
“Dear Readers: Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything!” Atwood said Wednesday in a statement.
“The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.”